by Ben Winston
"Understood, we're inbound." Sharon called.
"Activating shuttle landing pads. Marker lights on, you’re clear to land," Greg replied as he took over the landing control console.
"Thanks, we'll be home in a few minutes," Sharon replied.
"Greg, look at this," Jared said a few moments later. "The team hitting the south side has shifted its attack closer to the shuttle pads. I bet they think we have to lower the shield to let the shuttles land," Jarad said.
"Maybe, or they're getting into position to fire those missiles you mentioned before," Greg said and pointed to one of the solders that carried a long tube on his back.
Jarad nodded. "Good catch; that is definitely an anti-aircraft missile launcher."
Jarad and Greg watched as the soldiers fired several missiles at the landing shuttle, only to see them explode against the shuttle's shields. The shuttles were very easy, slow moving targets since they had to merge their shields with the one covering the base while they landed. It didn't hamper the landing of the shuttles, but it did provide for a bumpy ride.
Sharon and the other pilot she had with her, a man named John Borden that was the father of one of the Marines, and had been a pilot for a small charter service, joined the two men in the control center.
"That was fun!" John said sarcastically.
"It could have been worse, John. They could have had fighters out there too," Sharon replied grinning at him.
"Well, if something doesn't get figured out soon, they are just going to keep trying to get in here one way or another. How far are they willing to take their attacks on us? The next thing they'll do is evacuate the surrounding area just so they can drop a nuke on us!" Greg said.
"Don't give these idiots any ideas! They're watching us, too," Jarad said and indicated the camera.
"They might try to evac Shermandale, but it's going to be more difficult than it was when we started all this," Sharon said grinning.
"How so?" Greg asked.
She chuckled, "You've been too busy to notice, but once we started broadcasting everything we do, people from all over the country have been coming here. The population all but tripled overnight! I haven't checked in the last couple of days, but there were people living out of tents and campers all over the place! One guy's making a killing renting out as much of his property as he can to these people."
"Why are they all coming here? That doesn't make any sense," Greg said.
"Mostly they want to join us," Sharon said. "A good share of them are UFO enthusiasts, but there are people out there from all walks of life. We've been picking up a few as we can, but we have no place to screen them, nor can they bring their stuff with them. I don't think any of them have considered that. We've been trying to tell them to go home and apply to us through our web site, but more seem to be arriving every day."
Greg looked thoughtful. "That's not good, if the Drellians attacked they'd nuke the place. That pretty much seals it, we've gotta move the base. If we don't, those people are in horrific danger."
Prometheus Base
North American Continent
Earth, Sol System
The decision to move the base to the moon was actually far easier than actually doing it. Instead of simply getting out of their way and letting the people go; the American government did everything it could to try to keep them there.
Ground troops completely surrounded the complex and would not let anyone or anything in or out. Fighter craft patrolled the skies over the complex and attempted to shoot down any and all craft leaving the complex, ordering any such craft to land at one of their airfields and surrender. Of course the shuttle pilots just laughed at the fighter planes. None of the shuttles returned fire or did anything that could be considered hostile, other than refusing to comply with the grounding order. Every craft was fired on at least four times before it left the atmosphere.
When it finally came time for the Ranger team to depart in the hypersleds, Greg was wondering just what the American pilots thought was going on. Why waste all that ammunition when it is well known that it had no effect?
The Rangers were actually the very last people to leave the complex. Everything had been removed from the complex, including the lifts to raise and lower the sleds. The only things remaining were the shield generator on the surface, which Jolene would be deactivating and retrieving after takeoff, and the deep underground vault housing the back-up of Abraxis. Knowledge of that vault was restricted to six people. The Ranger team, Mandi, since she had helped design it, Sharon, and Jarad.
The vault itself was very deep and heavily shielded. There was simply no way that the people of Earth could find it. Once the facility had been completed, the passage to it had been reconstructed by the construction drone using the exact same materiel as when the passage was dug out. No trace of its existence was left behind.
After the last of the shuttles left, Greg and the girls climbed into their sleds and powered up. The silo doors had been left open so they could get out, and would remain that way once they departed, as the base no longer had power since the reactors had been removed. The shield generator was operating on its own internal emergency power core that could last up to a week. It would still have three days remaining when Jolene disengaged it.
The three very lethal looking craft rose out of the ground and moved over to the shield generator that was sitting in plain sight from the gate. Jolene hovered over the generator and told Greg she was ready.
"Whiskey Foxtrot Commander, this is Prometheus Commander, over," Greg said on the troop’s radio frequency.
"So, are you ready to surrender, Mister Albright?" a voice replied.
"What is it with you folks? Nope, we're not surrendering; we're leaving. Where have you been for the last week? Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that we have removed everything from the base. In a moment, we'll take the last of our technology and depart. I want you to know that we hold no ill will toward you or any of your troops. Every moment of our loading and departure has been filmed and broadcast to the world, and no hidden traps or devices of any kind were left behind. We truly hope that your government, as well as the rest of the governments of the world, come to their senses soon and end this lunacy. When the Drellians return, we will do our best to respond as quickly as possible, you have my word on that."
"You still believe all that bullshit, Son? There is no such thing as aliens! Now just set that nice, shiny ship of yours down, and I'll make sure you get the help you need." Greg had to admit, the man sounded sincere.
"I honestly believe you meant every word of that, Sir. Unfortunately, I've already fought the enemy and know they are all too real. I hope that someday we can meet under less hostile conditions. On behalf of my team and all those that are supporting our efforts, we wish you and your men a good day," Greg replied. "Okay, Jolene, do your thing and let's get out of Dodge."
"Thank you Mister Albright, I do hope that you will get the help you need before someone gets hurt," the man replied.
The ship had found the man speaking, and Greg had zoomed in on him. "Major Green, I know you meant it another way, but I hope you are correct; we still need a great deal of help in order to defend ourselves from what’s coming. I truly hope we get it in time. Good bye, Major."
"Good bye, Commander," the officer replied and saluted.
"Shield generator is deactivated and secured. The Base is yours Major Green," Jolene replied over the radio so the man would know it was safe to enter. "I'd open the gate for you, but there is no power. However, the personnel gate on the left is unlocked. You may enter at any time."
"Thank you, miss, have a good flight," the Major replied.
"He was certainly polite," Bella commented as the team turned and rose away from their former home.
"He got what he wanted without any loss of life, I'm sure he appreciates that," Greg replied.
"Attention unidentified craft, you are in violation of…" a voice sounded over the radio.
"W
hy don't you guys have that recorded so you don't have to keep repeating yourselves?" Greg asked.
"Excuse me?" the pilot replied
"Well, think about this, how many times in the last week have you guys had to say that whole litany? Twenty? Thirty times? Has it had any effect?" Greg asked. "Why would you assume it would have an effect now? You folks know who we are and what we're doing, so the whole 'unidentified craft' stuff is bull anyway."
"Look, you will follow us to our base where you will land and surrender to the troops waiting there for you…"
Greg interrupted him again. "Why are you guys even up here? I mean, okay, I know you have your orders and all that, but none of your weapons have had any effect on us; you can't stop us, you can't follow us, so what are you really doing up here? It has to cost a fortune to keep that plane in the air, not to mention the missiles and ammo you've already expended. How will your bosses explain that to the people?"
"Look kid, I'm here to make sure you land that craft and surrender! If you don't I will fire on you!" the pilot replied.
"There! That's what I mean! You know as well as I do that you can fire every weapon that fighter has and all you’ll do is waste a lot of money. Your threat is empty, we won't surrender; so what's the point? You know, I've always wondered something, if we actually were 'real' UFOs, what makes you guys think they would use an amplitude or frequency modulated radio for communications? Those are no good for even inter-planetary communications, so why would they even use them?"
Greg knew that both Jolene and Bella were laughing at his conversation with the flustered pilot.
"Look are you going to comply or do I fire on you?" the pilot replied.
"I mean no disrespect to you or your craft, Sir, but you are so out-classed that my computer won't even acknowledge you as a threat. So, I think the answer to your question is 'neither'. Ladies, full power ascent if you please."
Greg heard the pilot say "Holy sh…" before the sleds were out of radio range and in orbit.
Grimaldi Ridge Base
Ocean of Storms
Selene, Earth's Moon
"Grimaldi Ridge, this is Ranger One on final. We are requesting approach vector and landing instructions, over," Greg called.
"Good to hear from you Ranger One, we were getting worried about you," an unfamiliar voice replied. "The lanes are clear; maintain heading and descend to one thousand feet. Reduce speed to one hundred MPS. We'll open the dome when you pass the outer marker. Navigation beacon is active. Welcome home, Rangers."
For speeds slower than point-zero-one, Abraxis told Greg that the separate race used whatever unit of measure they were most familiar with. Greg chose to us the metric system since he had planned the base to be as diverse as possible. In this instance, 'MPS' stood for meters per second.
"We have the beacon, Grimaldi. ETA to outer marker zero-one minutes," Greg replied as his controls registered the information. "Thanks for leaving a light on for us."
"Not an issue, Rangers. I have been asked to pass along an invitation for you to dine with Governor Hollister this evening after you have settled into your quarters," the man replied.
"Thank you, control. Please relay to him that we would be honored to join him for dinner," Greg replied.
As they passed over the point marked as the outer marker, Greg and the girls saw the dome beginning to open as they sped towards it. Greg grinned as the computer took over the landing procedure and guided them into the bay prepared for them. Even before the sleds had softly touched down, the big dome was already closing.
When their sleds reported a safe atmosphere outside, they opened their canopies and got out. They were on an elevator that was lowering them under the floor of the dome into a large hanger area. The elevator turned out to be an anti-gravity platform that moved them and the sleds over to an area that was specially built for them. As they approached a large balcony, they saw Mandi waiting for them, smiling.
"Isn't this place fucking awesome?" Mandi asked excitedly. "It's way bigger than we had originally designed. Abraxis has been in contact with the other races in the Alliance, and we have been adjusting the base to accommodate the ships they'll be sending. Look over there, on the far side of the bay is where the big bulk freighters will come in to move cargo; we can handle three of them at a time! Off to the left is a huge passenger area for liners and our shuttles from Earth. But this whole side is for the servicing and maintenance of hypersleds and any other smaller combat craft we might build!"
"Whoa Sweet-Pea, take a breath or you'll hyper-ventilate!" Bella said, but she was smiling.
"Sorry, but it's all just so exciting! Just wait until you see the civilian stuff! It's way bigger than this place and it’s so pretty! They have water falls, trees and grass, it certainly doesn't feel like we're on the moon!" Mandi replied. "How was the flight up? Anything I need to look at on the sleds?"
"Nope, smooth as silk. Greg did give one of those fighter jocks a heart attack though!" Jolene said, grinning.
"Oh no! What did he do?" Mandi asked.
"Just before the pilot got frustrated with us and opened fire, he ordered a full power ascent. We left those planes so far in the dust it was like we teleported!" Bella answered. "But even before that, he was messing with that poor pilot something fierce! You'll have to replay the logs; trust me, it's worth it!"
"Mandi, there seems to be more shuttles here than I knew of; how many do they have here?" Greg asked.
"Honestly Greg, I don't know, I've really only been here for two hours myself. I can tell you that I have seen larger shuttles landing over in the cargo area that weren't from Prometheus. Those monsters wouldn't have fit!" Mandi said smiling. "I think Carl might be working very hard in the background here."
Activating his comm implant, Greg called for Abraxis.
"What can I do for you Greg?" Abraxis replied like he knew a secret that he thought would surprise Greg.
"Okay, give! What’s going on here?" Greg asked. "You're way to smug sounding!"
"To be honest Greg, Governor Hollister wanted to tell you all about everything he's been doing. If you order me to, I will of course comply, but he would like to be the one to tell you about it," Abraxis replied.
"Okay Abraxis, I won't force it out of you, but all of this does concern me a little bit," Greg replied.
"To help put your mind at ease, nothing that has happened or been built is out of line with what you had planned," Abraxis answered.
"Okay, so Mandi told us about the cargo dock, the civilian and military area, but what is over to our right?" Greg asked looking to the right of the military area.
"That is a ship building facility, currently, they are building mining ships. Several ore shuttles have already been completed and are parked in the storage hanger on the level below this one," Abraxis replied. "This is part of what Governor Hollister wants to tell you."
Greg grinned and shook his head. "Okay, I'll leave it alone. Thanks Abraxis."
"I will be very happy to answer any questions you might have either during or after your meeting with Governor Hollister," Abraxis replied. "I'm certain that you will approve of everything that has been done. Greg, we are doing extremely well."
"It sure looks like it. Can you tell me how recruiting is going, or did Carl want to surprise me with that as well?" Greg asked.
"He might, but hasn't asked me not to tell you. Recruitment is going very well. In point of fact, we have more applicants than we can process and are running three shuttles a day to pick people up. I believe the Governor is currently considering allocating another shuttle to that effort.
"The current base population is over ten thousand, two-hundred and forty-one. Many of them are studying to be freighter pilots and miners. There are some that are getting involved in the construction efforts, while others are investigating private enterprises such as clothing stores and entertainment facilities. We have twelve individuals that would like to have larger freighters built so they can assist in the long dist
ance transportation of goods.
"There have also been several people volunteer for the military; but as we do not have the facilities to house or train them yet, they are assisting with the construction efforts.
"Several others have joined together to plan another base on Mars with an eye toward mineral exploitation and research. The people that have joined us are all very excited about the possibilities now available to them."
"That seems really strange to me," Mandi said. "Most of the people here are from the US. They had the same opportunities there as they do here."
Jolene shook her head. "Not true, in this environment, we still enjoy the freedoms of the United States and most other countries, but there is far less competition. Being a part of a freighter crew and meeting new beings is not available to most people on Earth, neither are a good share of the other jobs now available. Not only that, this is the Moon, not Earth; we are in space. I'm sure a good portion of these folks will change their minds once the 'new' wears off or they discover just how dangerous it really is out here."
"One final thing I will tell you Rangers," Abraxis added. "On this base, Fighter Greg is the Military leader, but Governor Hollister is the Civilian one. He is very well liked and respected, too. He has formed an advisory panel that currently has four members randomly selected from the population. They will still work their normal jobs and maintain their normal social contacts, but for now they are scheduled to meet once a week to discuss any issues that the people might have. This was a very popular move on his part and seems to have given many people hope for a better future."
"It seems that Carl is doing an even better job than I thought he would!" Greg replied. "I'm glad it’s all working out, it would be a real problem if the people up here weren't happy."
"One moment, please," Abraxis said with an urgent tone in his voice. "Fixer, I need you to take my terminal device over to the new arrival area immediately, please."